Teen arrested in sucker-punching of Pa. teacher

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh police and school officials say a teenager who sucker punched an English teacher in a downtown alley appeared to pick his victim at random.

The attack last Thursday afternoon was captured on surveillance video. Pittsburgh police used the recording, which shows 50-year-old James Addlespurger getting sucker-punched, to make an arrest Tuesday.

Addlespurger is recovering, but he has yet to return to work at the city’s Creative and Performing Arts school.

The 15-year-old suspect has been taken to a juvenile detention center on a charge of simple assault. He attends a school for troubled youths in another part of town and officials say he apparently didn’t know Addlespurger — let alone that he was a teacher.